Operatives of the Delta State Police Command have cracked down on a major car dealer, who specializes in buying stolen vehicles from criminals operating mostly within the Niger Delta region, re-registered them at licensing offices before reselling them to the public as second-hand vehicles.
Also on parade were sophisticated arms and ammunition, including AK 47, Double Barrels, Cartridges, locally made pistols, Daggers, Charms as well as masters keys used in opening cars that were parked along the road or garages that were recovered in the home of the arrested car dealer.
Parading the suspect before newsmen at Eburumede Police station in Uvwie Local Government Area today Sunday, the spokesperson for the Delta State Police Command, DSP Bright Edafe, disclosed that the suspect, identified as Junior Godwin, 28years, who resides in Rivers state, had been involved in series of stolen car dealings with members of the syndicate that specializes in car theft.
According to the PPRO, “Our men at Eburumede Division received the complaint from a kidnapped victim who was ambushed on July 23, 2022, at about 8pm, along Uti street in Effurun by a gang of four armed men who took him, hostage, in his GLK Mercedes Benz for a while before they ran out of fuel around 11:48pm and resorted to hide in a remote village called Ekakpamre in Ughelli South Council area.
“The victim was said to have forced the back seat of the car down from the boot to enable him come out and in the process had an encounter with one of the kidnappers assigned to watch over him while the rest had gone in search of an alternative means to leave that location”.
“However determined to escape, the victim was reported to have rushed at his captor, resulting in both men engaging in physical combat that saw the victim having an upper hand over the kidnapper who he later subdued to enable an escape access through the busy.
“Acting on details provided by the victim, the men at Eburumede Divisional headquarters, ably led by its Divisional Police Officer (DPO), CSP Indifreke Iwok, commenced investigations to the incident and based on intelligence gathering, the vehicle that was abandoned by the victim was tracked to Rivers state where it was recovered with other vehicles.
“The mode of operation of this suspect is that when these criminals contact him that they have a car for sale, he always requested that the picture of the vehicle and the plate number be sent to him and immediately he forwards to his contacts in the licensing office who changes the registration of the vehicle and designs a new plate number even before the vehicle arrives.
“What has remained puzzling in this case is how the licensing office changes the details of a vehicle without contacting the owners to find out why they wanted their car registration changed. This kind of crime is becoming very rampant and we wonder what the officials of these licensing offices are doing about this,” DSP Edafe noted.
Other suspects paraded were three commercial tricycle riders, popularly known as “Keke” armed robbers, who dispossessed victims of their phones, cash and personal belongings, mostly along the highways within Warri and Effurun axis.
They stab victims that show resistance with their daggers before throwing them out on the highway.
The police image-maker disclosed that most of the guns recovered were at Ekpan Division in Uvwie Local Government area, where the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) CSP Aliyu Shaba, had been involved in arms mopping from the militants who had been involved in community unrest and other social vices that often led to the breakdown of law and order.
